


Making Adventure

by printfogey



Category: One Piece
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-24
Updated: 2012-03-24
Packaged: 2017-11-02 11:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/368583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/printfogey/pseuds/printfogey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Usopp tells his young daugher bedtime stories.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> This shortfic features Usopp and an OC child of him and Kaya. It was originally written for the 2011 Christmas holidays for the prompt "bedtime stories", with Usopp requested. 
> 
> The child's name was stolen from a forthcoming fic by Tonko. Constructive criticism and other feedback exceedingly welcome.
> 
> Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to its brilliant creator Eiichiro Oda. This fic was written without permission for entertainment purposes only. It's not to be used for profit. Please do not repost it anywhere without my consent.

Usopp had been pretty sure that of all the myriad challenges of parenthood, at least telling his daughter bedtime stories would be a cinch. After all, he was good with kids, and he was great with stories, able to draw both on his fertile imagination and, these days, a fount of wild and varied experiences. And his tales had always been able to entertain her mother, too.

But little Saga turned out to be a pretty unpredictable audience. She could get bored and restless by the parts he'd thought would thrill her the most, the wild flights of fancy he'd tried to tailor for her age... only to get mesmerised at something much more mundane and ordinary. Once she could talk more, she'd sometimes stop the story to ask him about details, also usually not the things he'd thought would get questioned. He'd start explaining and trip himself somewhat, losing the flow of the story for a moment; but then a new idea would come out in the process, and the tale would turn in another direction.

It was a good thing, he decided: it kept him on his toes. Of course, there were still some nights when he wished for an easier reception if he was sleepy - but then, when he got that at other times, when she would just nod and take everything in, he found himself missing the questions. 

Sometimes, Kaya would have to remind him that in this case, his audience falling asleep during the telling was _not_ a failure but in fact a good thing. When he got caught up in the story, he forgot that on occasion.

Saga's tastes in stories came and went in phases. For a time when she was five, she only wanted animals in her stories, no humans at all. Later at six she went through a period when the stories had to be full of princesses – not just the heroine, but also at least one of her friends, or even her enemies... And then for a while she only wanted stories that were set on land, though that phase didn't last long.

And now, at eight...

Usopp knocked on the doorframe and then leaned into Saga's room. "Heya! Got time for a story?"

Saga sat up straighter in bed in her red-striped pajamas, looking expectant. "You're late!" she scolded.

"Sorry," said Usopp, grinning as he stepped inside. "I had to finish a letter. Now..." – he pulled the chair he always used over to the bed – "want a book-story or a made-up story?"

"Made-up story!" said Saga immediately. This was a ritual by now, the question and answer both. Saga loved being read to from books as well, but that was more Kaya's shtick, on the whole.

Usopp sat down on the chair and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Made-up it is, then. Do you want me to start a new one, or..."

"No, no, no!" Saga shook her head forcefully. "We have to finish the one we're already telling first!"

"Oh, yeah, that one." Usopp clicked his tongue. "Right, that one... what's its name again?"

" _Da-ad._ You always forget." Saga sighed, then quickly went on, "It's 'The Pirate Princess from the Island of Roses and her Big Fight against the Evil Lord of Blood-Sucking Monsters'! Chapter 12." Saga crossed her legs as she sat up in the bed, propping up her favourite stuffed animal next to her. She eagerly went on, "And I wanna tell the start of this part 'cause I think I know what happened first, but you're gonna have to take over after that, okay?" 

"It's a deal," said Usopp, who suspected he had way too much fun for this to count as Proper Parenting Dutywork. "Okay, so..." he said, in case she needed a reminder, "I think the last part ended with our heroine and her trusty first mate about to sneak into an abandoned Marine fort..."

"But maybe it wasn't really abandoned!" Saga whispered, thrilled.

"Exactly," said her father, nodding. "So what happens next, then?"

"Well, um, it was like this..." Saga leaned forward and started to tell the story, eyes shining.


End file.
